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“I am positively shocked that the woman with the file-o-fax and the color-coded pens likes to manage people,” Ilan said, deadpan. Abi couldn’t help laughing with him.
“It’s not a file-o-fax, it’s a leather, B4 binder and dot grid paper. I don’t like the file-o-fax pages, so I make my own,” she knew full well she was being pedantic, but she took her planner very seriously for a reason.
“I have no idea what any of that means, but I respect your commitment to organizational skills,” Ilan said. “Listen, I’m not asking you to wear my fraternity pin or anything.”
“You were in a frat?” She wasn’t sure why she was surprised. Maybe it was just because the whole Greek system had seemed so pointless to her when she was in school.
“Are you surprised?” he said, but his tone was teasing. She rolled her eyes and went back into the sunroom, scooping up Latke from the cage as she went. The guinea pig wheeked happily.
“A little, but only because I can’t imagine you rushing,” she said honestly. He laughed.
“Honors frat for science kids,” he explained. “What about you, surely you have a few impressive credentials.”
“More from grad school than undergrad,” she said, but didn’t elaborate because Latke was trying to tangle himself in her necklace.
“That doesn’t surprise me,” he said, and she was glad he wasn’t asking her more questions about college. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him, it all felt so far away. “So, when am I taking you out?”
“Shabbat dinner at my parents tomorrow, if you want to join,” she said, it was a challenge. She didn’t expect him to say yes. Part of her wanted him to say yes so that she could see him interact with her family, but she was aware it was moving very quickly.
“Are we ready for dinner with the fam?” He asked, and she could hear the teasing in his tone, but she wondered if she was imagining the note of uncertainty too.
“Well,” she said, not pointing out that they’d been shtupping for weeks already so why not. Ten percent less bitch, she reminded herself. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but Mom does these things every week, so it would happen eventually anyway.”
“You always have dinner at your parents’ place on Shabbos?” He sounded truly surprised. Abi wondered how come.
“Not every Shabbat,” she said truthfully, “sometimes they come here instead.”
“I like it,” he said, and she was relieved to hear that he sounded genuine. “What can I bring?”
TEN
“I can’t believe she brought him here,” Leah said, not even trying to hide the outright glee in her tone as her mother pulled the challah from the oven. Lisa hissed.
“Be kind, your sister never brings anyone to dinner,” Judah Meyer said, moving a cutting board on the counter to make room for the bread pan. Lisa jerked her chin in the direction of a cooling rack, and her husband lifted it from the drain board, placing it on the open space on the counter.
“Could you make the salad dressing, darling? The brussels sprouts are already chopped in the fridge,” Lisa said, sliding the challah to the cooling rack. Making a show of food preparation was a trick she regularly deployed when she didn’t want to draw attention to whatever one of her daughters happened to be doing.
“Mom,” Leah said, her tone implying she knew exactly what her mother was doing, and she’d let her get away with it, but only because she was used to it.
“That’s enough, Lay,” Judah said, he was pouring various bottles into a large measuring cup. “Go join Simon, it’s not his job to entertain your sister and her friend in your parents’ house.”
Leah rolled her eyes, her face saying they were lucky she wasn’t sticking her tongue out, but she did as she was told, joining her sister and her best friend and her sister’s lumberjack on the patio.
“Love of my life,” Judah said, rummaging in the spice drawer, “where did you hide the garlic powder?”
“I haven’t touched the garlic powder, dearest one,” Lisa said sweetly. “Have you tried looking with the cooking oils?”
“Why would it be with the—” he glared into the cupboard above the spice drawer. “Who put the garlic powder with the oil?”
“The man who made omelets this morning, sweet one,” Lisa said, she was still focused on the challah. Judah rolled his eyes, removing the garlic powder, and also the olive oil since he was in the cupboard anyway.
“Why in the world would you let such a person do a thing like that?” he mused.
“I would like to see someone try to stop him,” Lisa answered, this time she was definitely laughing.
“You two are so weird,” Abi said from the doorway. She held two empty glasses in her hand. “I had to warn Ilan how you were on the drive over, and he didn’t believe me.”
“Weird?” Judah said, replacing the olive oil in the cupboard. “Since when have we been weird?”
